


Predators hunt in packs

by KuroYasha



Series: A Ghoul and his Wolf [1]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, BAMF Stiles, Cannibalism, Dubious Morality, Ghouls, M/M, Minor Allison Argent/Scott McCall, Minor Character Death, Minor Violence, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Peter Feels, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-06
Updated: 2015-08-06
Packaged: 2018-04-08 00:31:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 22,196
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4283817
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KuroYasha/pseuds/KuroYasha
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Claudia was not exactly human. So when Stiles's human best friend gets turned into a werewolf, he's not going to wait for the Alpha to hunt them down. Especially since he's more use to being the predatory than prey.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. His Scent

**Author's Note:**

> First time in this fandom and I only really know Steter so there might be slight OOC.
> 
> Ghouls in this are basically the ghouls from Tokyo Ghoul, but not a full crossover because if the pack had to deal with hunters and the CCG, it would be too much for them. For those unfamiliar with the series, you can read about ghouls [here](http://tokyoghoul.wikia.com/wiki/Ghoul), but I'll have notes for each chapter to try and tell what you need to know about them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ghouls eat people and while human food smell awful to them, people smell delicious to them, with varying levels of goodiness.

Stiles was twelve the first time he met Peter Hale. Well, more like smelled him. He was in the hospital to visit his ailing mother when he caught scent of a heavenly smell. 

He wandered away from the hall that would lead to his mother and went looking for the source of the scent. The scent gave him the feelings of a festive home. Like Christmas, filled with delicious food and love. At least, it's what he imagined a festive home would smell like. His family isn't exactly allowed one.

Regardless of what the scent reminded him of, he wanted to meet the source. Even if he couldn't eat it, maybe if he found it, he could find more of it. When he entered the one of the rooms in the long term wards, he caught sight of a handsome man, propped up so that he faced out the window. 

Stiles only had a brief glance at his face before Melissa had found him. She pulled him out of the room and lead him to his mother. She merely thought that he had gotten lost.

Hours later, when visiting hours were over, he had asked about the man whose room he had originally entered. He learned the man was Peter Hale, a burnt victim from the Hale House fire. He had been in a coma since then with no signs of waking up. Besides him, two other people lived, but neither had visited the man since the incident. 

Stiles, who had watched his mother mentally deteriorate for over a year up until this point, could not imagine being away from her, no matter how much pain the sight of her caused him. Melissa tried to tell him how he was very brave for staying by his mother's side, but that many others may not be as brave. The older man had large scars all over and that some people could not stand to be constantly be reminded of such tragedy. Stiles could not understand that. He could not imagine not being by his mother's side. Not even when she couldn’t recognize him. 

Stiles had always associated his mother's scent with home. But since she began to deteriorate, her scent had turned bitter, smelling more less of home and safety. He wanted to be reminded of home. Especially since his dad had always smelled more like prey than home.

He offered to visit the man, to read to him or something. Even if the man is in a coma, it must be lonely. Stiles himself cannot stand for silence. Melissa told him what a good boy he was, but that the hospital usually wouldn't permit it since he wasn't the man's family. However, she allowed it and offered to talk to the hospital about it for him. She felt it would help him deal with his mother's own sickness. 

So, for months afterwards, he spends hours each day at the hospital. He splits his time evenly between his mother and the lonely man that smelled like home. With his mother, he talked about his day and the troubles he got into. With Peter, he read his school books to him, although he also read other books, like Tolkien or even Harry Potter. He especially liked reading Harry Potter to him as the last book had come out during his stay. And how could anyone hate the Harry Potter books. Stiles figured it would be nice to keep the man up to date on it. 

On some days, when his mother spent the day undergoing test or days when his presence caused her more harm than good, he spent the hours being quiet in Peter's room. Of course, just because he wasn't talking didn't mean the room was quiet. It would be filled with music instead. Stiles really couldn't stand the silence.

Slowly, Stiles started looking forward to inhaling that scent. While he couldn't feast on the man's flesh, being reminded of home was more than filling, even when his food source dwindled. It became a test of will, when his mother's words became more scathing as she forgot what she was, that he was more than his nature. He was not a monster.

Then, more than a year and a few months later, his mother's body couldn't support itself anymore and she passed away. Stiles was only a few days away from turning fourteen.

Stiles went through the days following her death in complete silence. He couldn't bare to visit the hospital, knowing that while the man with the scent of home was still alive, the woman who represented safety, even with her stench of decay, was gone for good. He was sure his control would snap.

He never returned to the hospital after she passed. During the times when his thoughts wandered to the man and how lonely it must have been, he convinced himself that he wouldn't be allowed to visit anyway. It lessened the guilt he felt. The guilt he felt about not visiting and the guilt he felt about enjoying being in the room with the man rather than being home alone. 

Stiles eventually shoved all thoughts about him from his mind. Between school, Scott, and lacrosse, there wasn't time for him to think about Peter. He didn't think about the man at all for the next few years. At least, until Scott was bitten by a werewolf.

When Scott was human, he smelled like everyone else: a mixture of sweet and salt. The scent invoked images of diners and fast food. Easy dinners. 

When Scott changed, the smell was elevated, more complex. Like bistros and the fancy restaurants he saw in romcoms. Not that he watched much romcoms. Nope. 

(Actually, Derek smelled similar to werewolf Scott, although a hint more bitter. Maybe all werewolves just smelled like higher class meals compared to normal humans. This required more test subjects before it can be confirmed.)

But that night at school, trying to trap the Alpha, he found that scent again. The scent he associated with Peter was mixed with blood. Stiles knew then who the Alpha was. However, he couldn't say anything. Not without giving away what he is. That was one secret his mother made him promise to never reveal. Considering the difficulties Scott had with being a werewolf, he felt he made the right choice. And definitely no to letting Jackson finding out.

Of course, when he was taunting the trapped beast, he was really trying to get a better smell of the werewolf. His sense of smell might be better than a normal human but it’s still nothing compared to a werewolf’s senses. Yet, even with a door between, Stiles could tell that the Alpha still smelled just as divine as before. If anything, it was even better without the stench of hospital surrounding it.

(Seriously, this has to be a werewolf thing. Normal people don't smell this tasty. Even Lydia smelled like spoiled meat in comparison. Although she does smell pretty bad compared to all the other humans, more like cheap junk food than anything else. But she has the looks of a goddess. Ugh. What is his life.)

Stiles made a decision that night. He really, really want a taste of the other man. Between Scott starting to smell so tasty and the bunch of people getting mauled all over the place, Stiles was starting to feel like a starved man stranded at an all-you-can-eat buffet and being told not to eat anything. (Considering his nature, this is less of an analogy and more of a fact.)

Plus, the fact that Peter was trying to kill him and his friends just meant no one would mind if the older man simply disappeared. Now Stiles just had to figure out the older man's plan and it should be easy hunting. It helps that he started digging up information on the man years ago, when he first learned his name. 

Except, the more he finds out about the Hale fire, the more he doesn’t want to stop the Alpha. He understand the need for revenge and considering the man's entire family was burnt alive, he's not even thinking of stopping the roaring rampage of revenge. Alright, sure, Stiles isn’t about to let his best friend be hurt by the older werewolf, but he's sure he can figure something out to make everyone happy. 

When he first looked up the Hale fire in middle school, he didn’t find much besides what the news were saying. His dad didn’t want him butting his nose into it, preferring if he focused more on school than the coma patient he shouldn’t have been allowed to visit. Stiles got his hands on a copy of the police report anyway. Not that there was too much more information. 

With the fire dubbed as an accident, the police couldn’t investigate more, even if some had suspicions of arson. He shared the same suspicions. Except no one’s going to listen to a kid about a closed case. 

Then when Derek showed up and the dead bodies start piling up, Stiles was almost certain the two cases were connected. He even thought the born werewolf was the one to bite Scott, but apparently, only Alpha werewolves could do that. Derek claimed the Alpha was trying to create a new pack, starting with Scott, but Stiles had his doubts. No offense to Scott, because the guy is the best friend someone like him could ask for, but he’s not exactly grade A werewolf material. It also doesn’t exactly explain all the dead people.

So, despite Derek’s words “that the human stay out of werewolf business”, Stiles keeps digging up information. He even manages to get his dad to cough up some information on the animal attack victims. Finding out that one was a former arsonist, it was pretty easy to figure out the Alpha was out for revenge. But he still didn’t have enough information. 

Thus, he does what is probably the dumbest idea ever in his entire life. He goes to visit Peter Hale at the hospital. Alone. In the middle of the night. While Scott and Derek were off doing their secret werewolf training montage that he wasn’t allowed to be at because he was a weak squishy human. Even though he was the one that taught Scott enough self control to play lacrosse. Sure, neither of them knows he’s not exactly human, but that doesn’t make it any less rude. 

\-----

Stiles does not think the Alpha can kill him. Sure, the werewolf probably has an extra hundred pounds over him with much sharper teeth and claws, but Stiles has something a little extra too. He does worry about being able to convince the older man to actually listen to him. Stiles was also not a full strength, having not eating for a few weeks now, but he’s sure he can take the werewolf on in a fight. Worse and best case scenario, he’ll ruining some clothes, but get to eat werewolf for dinner. Or convince him not to hurt Scott. Both are good.

At least, that’s what he tells himself as he tiptoes around hospital security. There are so many things that could go wrong. Thankfully, not many people are not duty at this hour so he makes it to Peter’s room without issue. As he walks into the room, he clearly sees Peter still laying in bed. If he didn’t know any better, he would have thought the man was still in the coma. 

Stiles locks the door behind him, wanting to make sure they won’t get interrupted. It might not do much against werewolves, and it may hinder him if he has to try and escape, but at least an orderly isn’t going to stumble upon them. 

Slinking into the chair besides the bed, Stiles is reminded of all the other times he's done this. Doesn't help that the man hasn't moved. He figures that the Alpha would stop pretending to be asleep after hearing the door lock. Nope, the guy hasn't moved at all. Deciding not to keep beating about the bush, he does what he does best: talk.

"Hey there, Peter. Or should I refer to you as the Alpha wolf? Listen, can we talk? I really want you to stop trying to kill me and my friends and stop picking on Scott. Sure, I get that you have some devilish plot for revenge, but having Scott in your pack or whatever isn't going to help with that. I mean, the guy's my brother in all but blood, but I'll be the first to tell you he's got a stricter black and white morality than the pope. He also literally can't hurt a fly. I've seen him trap bugs, only to release them outside just so he doesn’t have to kill them. Not good for your murder plot."

Usually, after so much verbal vomit, people tell him to shut up. Peter doesn't look like he's moved an inch. 

For a moment, Stiles wonders if he's wrong. That maybe Peter isn't the Alpha and that someone else has the exact same smell. That doesn't seem likely, but that's more reasonable than the idea of a coma patient wandering around killing people. 

Maybe Derek’s lying after all. Maybe he's really the Alpha going around killing people. That does explain how he lived after having claws shoved through his back, although it doesn’t explain how they could both be there. Unless Derek secretly has a twin brother that he killed or maybe it was some kind of magical doppelganger. After all, if werewolves are real, everything else is possible. Oh god, he’s in some mystical fantasy land and Scott is slowly becoming the hero of the story. 

The dead people started piling up when Derek came into town. What if Derek is the one killing everyone because they had something to do with the Hale fire? Maybe the Argents didn’t have anything to do with it, but Derek needs a scapegoat. And he's dragging Scott into to so he doesn't seem like the bad guy. Oh god, he left his best friend with the murdering bastard.

After a moment of internally conflicting about what to do about Derek, Stiles looks over at Peter. He froze in shock at seeing the man shaking. At first he's concerned because coma patients shouldn't be moving, but then he hears a guff of laughter. Then he realizes that Peter was shaking because the man was laughing. Suddenly he wonders how much he said out loud and how much was internal monologuing. 

While Stiles is panicking, Peter opens his eyes to stare at the young man next to his bed. Electrifying blue eyes meets whisky brown ones. If Stiles thought the man's scent was captivating, his eyes were infinitely more so.

"Hello, you must be Stiles."

With those words, Stiles’s defenses were raised. Narrowing eyes, he asks, “How much have you heard?” 

Stiles didn’t say his name earlier. It’s possible that he heard it that night at school. However, Stiles worries that’s not the case. Talking to comatose patients are supposed to help them, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they actually hear, or even remember, the words being said. Stiles hopes Peter knows his name from when the Alpha attacked them, because he said a lot of things as kid to someone he never thought would wake up.

“Enough.” The grin Peter gave Stiles was almost all teeth. In that moment, Stiles can see something unsound in those bright blue eyes. There is a hunger in them that terrifyingly reminds him of a starving ghoul. Peter might be physically healing, but there is mental damage that remains untouched. The Hale house fire was over six years ago, but the memories of burning with his family must be still fresh in Peter’s mind. 

“I must say, your mind comes up with the strangest thoughts. Although they are quite hilarious.” 

“I’m glad to provide such entertainment,” Stiles deadpanned. "I'm guessing you know why I'm here, so why don't we cut to the chase, and you can tell me what you plan to do with Scott."

Stiles tries not to fidget under that gaze. Peter doesn't even change his expression. If anything, he looks even more smug than before. 

"What makes you think I have any plans for him?" Peter then has the nerves to stretch his arms out before resting them behind his head, letting Stiles see his well toned biceps. For a guy who was in a coma for six years, it didn't seem like he was suffering from muscle atrophy. Stiles wonders if it’s a werewolf thing or an Alpha thing. 

"Both actually." Seeing the look on Stiles face, he continues. "You're not very good at keeping your thoughts in your head, are you?"

Stiles bristles. He knows he tends to ramble on about things and sometimes doesn't even notice when he says stuff out loud but this guy doesn't need to point it out. Besides, he's very good at keep important secrets. 

"Whatever. It's not like I'm jealous of werewolves having perfect physique or anything. Nope." Stiles glares at the man in bed. "More importantly, just tell me what to plan to do with Scott. Because like I said, if you're going on some revenge path, he's not going to agree to that."

The grin on Peter's face doesn't disappear but his eyes do grow colder. "He will with the right incentive."

"Pshh. No he won't. If anything, that'll make him more likely to rebel against you. And then what, you handle getting revenge while trying to stop sabotages from your own pack?" 

"Then what do you propose?" Stiles missed the calculating look in those blues at those words.

"Use me instead. If you leave Scott alone, I'll willingly help you get revenge. As long as you leave the people I care about, I'll do whatever I can to help you destroy the people that are responsible."

Stiles wasn't sure if he will have to reveal his nonhuman status to get Peter to agree. If the man is anything like Derek and his ideas about humans, he might have to in order to protect his loved ones. He doesn't know what that would entail, but would most likely result in his death. However, if it'll protect Scott and his dad, he's willing to do anything. So Peter's response is pretty shocking.

"Deal." 

The coldness in the man's eyes recedes and he actually looks calmer than at the beginning of their conversation. Stiles gasps at the sight.

"Deal? That's it? You're agreeing just like that?"

Peter merely raises his left eyebrow.

"Would you prefer I demand you to get a tattoo swearing your undeniable loyalty or have you mutilate some part of yourself to show your commitment?”

Stiles sputters and flails his arms around. “What? No, I- was that a Harry Potter reference? No! Just,” Stiles falters for a moment, eyeing the werewolf on the bed. “Why? Why are you agreeing so easily. Not that I’m complaining or anything. I just want to know why.”

“It’s been, what, two weeks since I’ve bitten your friend. Derek has been in town for roughly the same time. Yet you are the first person to visit me. My own nephew doesn’t even have the courtesy to check in on me despite the attacks and the Argents being in town. Plus, there’s already a feeble pack bond between us, and however small it is, it’s better than constantly trying to force one on an unwilling beta.”

Stiles freezes, looking at the older man in shock. This was not in his plans for tonight.

“Is this because I spend a year and half talking to a coma patient? Don’t answer that; of course it is. That doesn’t make sense though. I thought pack was only between fellow werewolves. I mean, the whole reason I’m here is because Derek seems to think I should stay out of this whole werewolf business. Which is totally not fair since I’m the one that helped Scott with his self control in the first place. Nearly got killed on the full moon because of it.”

Peter laughs at him. Stiles stays quiet, not sure what he said to set the man off. 

“My nephew is an idiot to not see your potential. But, you don’t need to be a wolf to be part of a pack,” he explained. 

“As for how,” Peter runs his eyes over Stiles, like he isn’t sure what he’s seeing. “I couldn’t hear everything you said, but the sound of your voice did reach me during the coma. It- I . . . you should have continued to visit. It helped.” 

That wasn’t what Peter meant to say and they both know it. However, Stiles is sure the older man didn’t want him to look too deep into it, so he lets it slide. 

“Er, alright so, what are our next steps?” Stiles asked. When Peter didn’t answer immediately, Stiles wondered, “There’s still a couple of people left right. And the Argents. I mean, Scott doesn’t believe they had anything to do with it, but I’ve seen Mr. Argent, and I can tell you he’s pretty werewolf hunting crazy.”

Before Peter could even get a word in, Stiles continues on through.

“Although that might just because Scott’s so in love in Alison, er, that’s Mr. Argent’s daughter by the way. Which means that even if you somehow had gotten Scott to agree, he would betray you in a heartbeat to protect her. I don’t think she’s had a hand in it since she would have been like eleven, and despite what books may claim, most eleven year olds don’t go around killing people. But, er, that still leaves three adult Argents. So let’s assume we have at least three professional werewolf hunters to deal with. And, no offense to your werewolf strength or anything, but even you can’t take them all on and get away with it. Especially since they got those wolfsbane bullets. Maybe we can get the police involved, blame the Argent on the recent animal attacks, or-”

Peter’s hand covers his mouth. Stiles feels a bit annoyed and slightly hurt until he notices that Peter is staring at the door. He doesn’t understand why until he hears the door handle jiggle. They can hear someone cursing on the other side, along with by footsteps walking away. It’s probably the janitor, but it’s clear to both of them that Stiles should leave.

Peter mouths tomorrow at Stiles, who nods his head. When Stiles pulls away, instead of heading for the door, he heads toward the window. Stiles turns back for a moment, and seeing the questioning gaze of the werewolf, throws him a thumbs up. A moment later, Stiles is out the window just as the door begins to open. 

Peter is lying in bed again, pretending to be in a coma as the janitor comes to clean the room. Outwardly, there is no change in his expression, but internally, he is content. His pack is slowly being rebuilt.


	2. Their Isolation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ghouls have an extra organ somewhere on their backs, containing RC cells. There are four potential types, depending on where the organ is located on their back. When the organ releases those cells, a ghoul's body becomes studier, with increased healing and physical capabilities. Their eye becomes red with black sclera. Except Stiles, as only one of his parents was a ghoul, has one eye that changes it's appearance.

Stiles isn’t sure what he is thinking when he decides to jump out the second floor window besides the fact that he needs to avoid the front door. Okay, he could have tried hiding in the room. It not like there aren’t curtains that hang around Peter’s bed. But if it isn’t a janitor, and actually someone checking on Peter, that would have been awkward. Stiles is pretty sure it wasn’t because who checks up on a coma patient during the middle of the night.

If he’s honest with himself, he just really wants to get away. Because seriously, even with the scars, the man is hot. And then he tells Stiles that he considers him pack? That’s like whoa, because from what he looked up, pack is like family to wolves. Maybe werewolves don’t consider it that important since Peter did go randomly bite Scott, but still, it’s nice to think about being accepted like that. 

Unless he’s just saying that to get Stiles to go along blindly with whatever he has planned. Although, he might still leave Scott alone so maybe it’s something. Stiles figures he can work with that. 

Stiles is careful when he lands, but he does almost roll right into the night guard. After being caught out late at night, he isn’t sure what his dad would do to him after being caught again. Once the guard passes, Stiles makes a run for it. He gets home fairly easily after that.

His dad is working the night shift again, so Stiles doesn’t even bother trying to be quiet. Although, the Sheriff is a heavy sleeper so it wouldn’t have mattered either way. His dad not being home makes sneaking around easier.

At least that’s what Stiles tells himself as he gets into the shower. He wants to make sure he doesn’t smell like the Alpha before he visits Scott tomorrow. There’s no school the next day, nor any day for the rest of that week and for most of next week. There was quite a bit of damage done to school property and the Sheriff’s department want to look it over before they fix everything so no school for a while. 

So he plans to sleep in and then maybe spend the day hanging out with Scott. The guy didn’t want Stiles hanging out with him early, but Stiles figured he just needed time to adjust with losing control before. Stiles full expects them to hang out all day. Then maybe he can pawn Scott off to Allison and Stiles would go back to the hospital that night. It’s a solid plan.

So it’s a complete shocker when he gets to Scott’s house and sees Jackson’s car out in front.

“Dude, Scott, what are you doing?” Stiles shouts when he sees him and Jackson about to get into the Porsche. 

Scott doesn’t look surprised to see him, probably thanks to those werewolf senses, but Jackson is and he sneers. 

“Er, hey Stiles,” Scott steps away from the vehicle, walking to stand in front of Stiles on the sidewalk. 

“Don’t ‘hey’ me. I thought we were going to hang out today. Don’t tell me you’re ditching me for Jackson of all people.” Stiles waves his arms around angrily.

“Better than a loser like yourself,” Jackson yells from where he stands. 

“Oi, shut up,” Stiles tilts his away from Scott to shout. Then he looks back at Scott and looking him in the eye, he ask, “Scott?”

“I just have other plans for today, Stiles. Don’t worry, we can hang out some other day?” Scott tries his best to avoid looking Stiles in the eye, but it doesn’t help that Stiles keeps moving around.

“What, no way. You already ditched me yesterday. Besides, what about the thingy? The thing we’re dealing with? You know?” Stiles doesn’t understand why his best friend isn’t including him in his plans. 

Scott’s eyes flash gold and he almost growls at Stiles. “I told you to leave it alone. I can handle it myself, or I can get Derek if I need to, but you stay out of it. It’s none of your business.”

“None of my business?” Stiles frowns. “Dude, it’s your business so of course it’s my business. Why are you acting like this? Is Jackson forcing you or something, because if he is-”

“No Stiles, it’s nothing like that,” Scott interrupts. When Stiles doesn’t look convinced, he continues, “I mean, sure, we used to make fun of the guy, but that was before I started doing so good in lacrosse, and actually spent some time with him. I want to hang out with him.”

“You’re choosing him over me? What the hell is this?” Stiles really doesn’t understand what is going on, but he is getting angry. Especially with how Scott is trying to look anywhere but at him. “Are you angry at me or something? What did I do to make you so pissed off at me?”

“Everything!” Scott finally looks Stiles in the eyes and both of their eyes are just filled with rage. “Maybe I want to hang out with someone who’s good idea of a fun time doesn’t involve running around the woods at night? Maybe I just realized that now that there are other people that want to spend time with me, I don’t have to spend it all with you.”

Scott stops to take a deep breath, trying not to look at how hurt Stiles looks.

“Look,” Scott tries to explain, much calmer now. “I just don’t want to have to see you for now. I have everything under control so I don’t need you butt in. Jackson and I are friends now that I’m not a nobody. You’re not my only option any more.”

“What the fuck, Scott? I thought we were bros?”

Scott turns to walk away. “We were Stiles, but I’m not the same person I was two weeks ago. I just more important things to do. I’ll see you around though.”

He doesn’t even look back when he gets in the car. Jackson gives Stiles the smuggest face. 

“Looks like McCall just upgraded. Don’t worry though, I’ll take care of my new best friend.” With that Jackson laughs as he gets into driver’s seat. 

Stiles remains there, horrible hurt, for a long time even after they drive off. He could read between the lines, and while he know Scott was upset at him for dragging him to the woods the night he got bitten, he didn’t think Scott blamed him for the bite. Considering everything Scott gets from being a werewolf, Stiles doesn’t understand why Scott is so angry with him about it.

Scott gets everything he ever wanted and this makes him abandon Stiles for Jackson of all people. Scott should be thanking Stiles for taking him out to the woods that night. Sure, they then had to deal with a murdering Alpha, but Stiles is taking care of that. 

Still, if Scott wants to pull a Mean Girls on him, then Stiles isn’t going to stop him. That’s fine, Stiles can just go be buddies with his new werewolf friend. Even if said werewolf is so much older than him, pretending to be in a coma, and the reason why Stiles has to walk twenty minutes to get home because said werewolf tore his car apart.

Stiles is upset that Scott didn’t even have the decency to pull him aside, away from Jackson to tell him whats up. Stiles would have listened to his plan, and probably change it so it’s not a stupid plan, but he would have listened. Instead, he gets dumped like a guy breaking up with a girl in front of his new girlfriend. Totally not cool. 

He can’t even stay mad at him. He wants to stay mad, but after finally reaching home, he just feels lethargic. Scott might as well have taken one of his arms with him because all Stiles can feel is emptiness in him. He just lost his best friend, someone he’s known since first grade and the guy couldn’t even be honest with him about it. 

He wonders if Scott truly would rather not spend time with him. He spend the whole walk clutching his phone, waiting for a text from Scott that Jackson was indeed blackmailing him and that he couldn’t say anything. But there was nothing. No indication that Scott didn’t mean his words. 

Seriously, if Scott wanted him to stay away, then he’ll stay away. And if Stiles just happens to solve the Alpha problem, Scott doesn’t need to know. At least this will make visiting the older man so much easier.

Stiles walks into his house with a depressed air about him. He barely stops on his way to his room when he sees his dad sprawling all over the couch. He barely notices when his right eye briefly flashes red and black, his lips curling into a snarl. 

In his state, he didn’t realize the image he projected to the man not quite asleep on the couch. He also didn’t notice the stiffening of the body on the couch, nor the concern in the eyes that followed him up the stairs. 

\-----

Scott really didn’t mean to say those words to Stiles. However, between Jackson whispering threats against him if didn’t get rid of Stiles and his own instincts screaming at him to get away, he couldn’t help but think of the harshest words he knew would get Stiles to leave him alone for the next few weeks. He doesn’t want to say them, but hopefully, this will keep Stiles away from the werewolf business for a while.

Scott doesn’t really blame Stiles for him becoming a werewolf. Sure, he wishes he didn’t let Stiles convince him to go to the woods that night, but Stiles had no way of knowing what were in those woods. He might not enjoy the dangers of being a werewolf, but even he can understand all the benefits it has gotten him so far. 

However, he doesn’t understand how his wolf could deem Stiles a threat, pushing him to hurt the other teen. If he didn’t know any better, it was almost like it was scared of Stiles. Scott is now a monstrous creature of the night, and Stiles is still a squishy human so that doesn’t make any sense. Yet he can’t help but feel like a prey in the presence of a predator. The wolf howls that if he doesn’t attack first, he’ll get devoured, like a bunny instead of the wolf he is. It’s been a tiring two weeks, trying not to attack his best friend.

He hates himself for being so terrified of his best friend. He’s known Stiles since first grade. They were there for each, like when his father decided to leave their family or when Stiles’s mom passed away. Being a werewolf makes it difficult for him to want to spend time together though. That’s why he ditched him yesterday, lying through his teeth about it, and why he didn’t tell Stiles that Allison broke up with him. Scott figures he just needs time to get used to all these werewolf powers, before he fully loses control and attack his best friend.

That’s why he needs to keep Stiles safe, even if that means pushing him away. After that disastrous night at school, where he almost hurt Stiles and Allison, he needs to keep Stiles away. Especially if the guy is crazy enough to taunt a trapped werewolf instead of running away. Stiles would get himself killed at this point. 

He doubts the teen would actually sit this out, no matter what Scott could have said to him. Stiles would find some way to inject himself into their situation. Scott just hopes their distance will at least keep the Alpha away from attacking the human. Who knows, maybe this will end up like in movies and TV shows where the guy that gets sidelined comes back at the end to save everyone.

Scott can’t stay away from Allison since she’s the only one that anchors him. And, if he wants to be in a relationship with her, he doesn’t know if he can keep lying to her. That’s why he convinced Jackson to help him out in exchange for introducing him to Derek. He wants Allison in his life, and if it means Jackson can play werewolf, he doesn’t care. 

He doesn’t even care about being a werewolf himself. He just wants things to go back to normal. He knows that Allison’s family are werewolf hunters, so he hopes that they can quickly take down the Alpha. In horror movies, taking down the big bad usually frees the heroes from whatever curse they have. Maybe this can be a way for him to be human and not worry about him and Allison becoming modern day Romeo and Juliet. 

He can talk to Derek about it later. The older werewolf must know someway for a person bitten by a werewolf to become human again. 

“That was pretty harsh what you said to him. Didn’t even know you had it in you to do that,” the words interrupts his thoughts. Scott turns his head and he can just see the biggest smirk on Jackson’s face.

“You said to get rid of him so I did. He’ll forgive him when I apologies.” He turns away, looking out the window as they drive toward Lydia’s house. The girls were spending their day off together.

“If you ever do, you mean.” Upon glancing over to see a face about to protest, he quickly continues, “You’re living the good life now, McCall. Hot girl, Mr. Popular. Why would you ever give that up to hang out with a freak like Stilinski?”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about Jackson. Stiles is like my brother. I’m not giving him up and I know he’ll understand once I apologies.”

“Then you’re dumber than I thought you were.”

They don’t say anything for the rest of the trip.

‘Stiles will understand once I explain everything to him,’ Scott thinks to himself. ‘Then everything can go back to normal.’

They soon pull up into Lydia’s driveway. 

‘Yeah, everything will go back to normal.’

\-----

While Stiles might not be able to taste the food that he makes, that doesn’t mean he’s bad at it. He’s surprisingly good at following recipe directions and he enjoys the calming effect of moving around the kitchen. He takes after his mother in that regard. 

They have a family recipe book, filled with dishes from when Claudia first started trying to cook for John to when Stiles started adding in his own recipes. To a normal family, their recipes would seem very mechanical, more like a laboratory protocol than dinner. At least their food is was still tasty to the human palate. 

At the very least, it keeps Stiles’s mind of the events from earlier that day. He’s so mentally occupied, he doesn’t even notice his father until he’s bringing the vegetarian meatloaf over to the dining table. John is already sitting down, the table having been made a for at least a while. 

“Everything okay, son? I thought you were going to spend the day at Scott’s?” 

It would take a blind man to not notice that Stiles is upset. John might not always be there for his son, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t stupid.

“Er, yeah,” Stiles stammers, before quickly changing his tune at see his dad’s face of disbelief. “No. Scott was being a jerk today.”

John nods in understanding. “Want to pull up a chair and tell your old man about it?”

Stiles sits himself across the table as John serves himself a slice. The older man looks like he wants to complain about the lack of meat in his dinner, but seems determined to hear Stiles out first. The only sides on his plate are a bunch of raw vegetables. 

“I don’t know. He’s mad at me for something I didn’t do, but may have indirectly caused. But I don’t understand why he’s so mad! And now he’s Mr. Popular at school and he ditched me today for Jackson, saying he doesn’t want to be friends anymore. It’s just ugh.” Stiles throws his arms up in frustration before letting his head fall to the table. He rests his cheek on the cool table, giving his dad a pitiful look.

“Okay, son, first just tell me that you didn’t do anything illegal and that’s why he’s angry with you.” Stiles gives him a hurt look, like how could he even suggest that. John returns the look with one of his own that says I know you son. 

Stiles huffs, but answers, “Technically no. You know, just silly stupid teen stuff. That may not have been entirely safe. But hey, no permanent injuries. And it’s not like I haven’t been helping him through it. He didn’t even indicate that he was upset with me about it until today.”

John sighs and takes a few bits of his dinner. He grimaces at the taste, wishing it was a proper meatloaf before drowning it ketchup. 

“I’m going to on a limb and guess this has something to do with the animal attack two nights ago.” John doesn’t even need to see the nod to know he’s right. “Son, you have to remember that most people don’t enjoy going into the dead of night looking for dangerous criminals or dead bodies. Your fellow students could have been seriously hurt.”

“I know, dad. Jeez, it wasn’t like I was forced them to tag along. Okay, Scott I did, but everyone else being there had nothing to do with me.”

“I’m not blaming you for their being there. I just want you to remember that people get scared easily. Maybe he just needs time to cool down from that. I’m sure he still wants to be your friend. High school can be a very difficult state and you’ve already gotten more adventure this year than most kids get in their life. Remember what I told you when you first started?”

Stiles lets out a breathy sigh. “Yeah dad. I- I guess. I don’t know. Everything is so confusing.”

John ruffled Stiles’s hair before continuing eating. 

“Give it time. I’m sure he’ll be begging for your company by the time school starts up again. Which,” here he gives Stiles a pointed look. “I hope you’ll be using this time off wisely. No wasting it all playing video games.”

“Thanks dad.” Stiles smiles, and John knows everything will be alright. “I’m going to head off to my room for now. Maybe figure out what to do these next few days without Scott.”

“Atta boy. And don’t forget to eat. There’s certainly no shortage of people dropping like flies these days.”

“Oh my god, dad. You did not just joke about that.”

\-----

Stiles sneaks into the hospital a little after midnight. After talking to his dad, he decides that he can deal with Scott later. The other teen can seek him out first whenever he’s done being upset. For now, Stiles can try and figure what to do with the Alpha.

It is clear that Peter is set on killing everyone that had a hand in his family’s fire if the look in his eyes are anything to go by. However, Stiles also understands that simply killing a few people won’t make the insanity in those blue eyes go away. Peter has a purpose, a goal that drives him to action, but what about afterwards. Stiles rather Peter not go on a mindless rampage after he’s had his revenge. He’s attracting too much attention as is with the “animal attacks”.

Stiles is really hoping that Peter’s only like this due probably not having any anchors for however long he’s been awake. If Peter is being honest about the pack bond, then that’s something Stiles can work with. 

Which is why, before this meeting, Stiles went done to Mel’s Diner to pick up a steak and fries dinner for the werewolf. He’s most likely have had nothing but hospital food, and Stiles doubts the guy would have the time or money to get himself food. Giving him good food should keep him happy. And a happy werewolf should mean no dead people that night. Hopefully.

Only, Stiles walks into Peter’s room in complete shock. Instead of seeing the older man sleeping, or at least pretending to be asleep, he’s half wolfed out, looking pretty feral at the moment. Stiles freezes at the doorway when red eyes stare at him. 

Stiles slowly walks into the room, carefully showing the Alpha that he means no harm. He closes and locks the door behind him. Once he does that, the Alpha hunkers off the bed, clumsily moving until he’s in front of Stiles.

“Hey Peter,” Stiles tries not to move, does his best to not give the Alpha a reason to attack. “Nice night we’re having here. Mind backing up a bit?”

The Alpha growls, but does move aside a little. Stiles takes the opportunity to move next to the bed so he can at least drop off his backpack and place the bag of food on the table. He does his best to keep eye contact and not expose his back. 

Once he drops the food on the table, the Alpha sniffs at its general direction. It looks at Stiles questioningly, before growling.

“Er, could you, I don’t know, change back to a person? Not saying wolfing out is entirely bad, just-” Stiles stops when the Alpha just starts sniffing him. It gets awkward fairly quickly as the Alpha all but presses his snout into Stiles’s neck to sniff the teen. “Okay then, just totally invade my personal space. Not weirded out or anything. Nope.”

The Alpha doesn’t react to his words, too busy scenting him. After a moment, it growls again, looking ready to attack the teen. However, before the Alpha can pounce, Stiles steps back, putting his hand on the Alpha’s nose as he does.

“Stop! Bad Peter. Pack, remember? No attacking, er,” Stiles feels like he’s misunderstanding the Alpha’s actions seeing how the large werewolf is now giving him large puppy eyes. 

If Stiles didn’t know what the Alpha is capable of, never mind the fact that the large beast looks like a monster from a horror movie, he might have felt bad. Instead, Stiles just wonders how his life has come to this. 

So he sighs, but starts petting the Alpha’s muzzle, hoping that will calm him down. The Alpha just looks confused at him for a while before leaning into the touch. Seeing the Alpha calm down, Stiles smiles.

“Alright Peter, want to try shifting back? I can’t exactly understand you like this. Come on, I got you human food.”

Stiles hopes that the promise of food might be help convince Peter to shift back. He’s knows that when Scott shifted, Stiles just needed to remind him of Allison. However, Stiles isn’t sure what to do in this situation. Peter did say he’s pack but considering how Peter nearly attacked him, he’s going to take that with a grain of salt.

For a moment, the Alpha looks ready to transform back into his human form. Except the werewolf merely throws Stiles over his shoulder and drags the teen toward the bed. Stiles lands with an “oomph” and the wolf crawls over, curling around him.

Stiles looks ready to protest, but one look at the werewolf and he decides against it. The aggressive stance melts into a more relax one. The Alpha still looks dangerous, but it does appear that he is calming down. Stiles twists around on the bed so he’s at least face to face with the wolf. 

The Alpha grabs the bag of food and looks at Stiles expectantly. Stiles guess that claws aren’t really great at handling plastic containers. At least he’s not trying to take a bite out of him. That could end up quite awkward fairly quickly.

The werewolf devours the steak in a couple of bites. He eats most of the fries, but leaves a handful for Stiles, but Stiles shakes his head and pushes the fries toward the Alpha. The Alpha looks at him for a heartbeat before finishing the rest of the food. 

“Are you alright? The full moon’s not for a week or two so you shouldn’t be wolfing out like this, right? You’re not stuck are you?”

The Alpha growls, but otherwise doesn’t respond. He does curl one arm around Stiles, treating him like a human teddy bear. Stiles wonders how much of the human is present. However, it seems like they won’t be doing any talking today. Suddenly, Stiles is glad he decided to bring his laptop. If he’s going to be stuck like this, he might as well entertain himself. Good thing he charged his computer before he came over.

Of course, grabbing his laptop out of his backpack was quite a hassle. The Alpha would growl at him everything he would just a bit closer to the edge of the bed. Stiles almost decides to use his ghoul scales to grab it, but thankfully, the Alpha lets go enough for him grab the bag. Apparently, the Alpha is weak to having his ears rubbed.

When he places his Macbook on his lap, the Alpha shifts around so that he’s sitting like a dog with his head resting on Stiles’s shoulder. Stiles looks like he wants to say something, probably a dog joke, but decides against it. Instead he just swings his arm around to scratch behind the Alpha’s ears. His fur is surprisingly softer than Stiles would have expected.

Stiles is mildly surprised at how easily he relaxes into the Alpha’s presence. He half wonders if it’s due to the overwhelming scent of the Alpha, reminding him of the comfort he sought in a coma patient while his mother rotted from the inside. The other half just thinks it because he’s basically cuddling with a giant puppy. He did want one as a kid. Then he got a snake.

Stiles slowly lost track of time as they watched videos together. It’s not like he knows what is going through Peter’s head so he might as well show the wolf some of the pop culture he’s missed in the last six years. They have headphones plugged in to help keep quiet. Stiles pops one into his ear and lets the other one dangle between them. Thank god for super hearing because he’s not sure how it would have fit in the werewolf’s ear otherwise. 

They just finish up watching Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog when Stiles’s phones goes off, warning him the nurses in charge of that wing will be starting their shifts soon. The sky is still dark outside so he shouldn’t have too much of an issue sneaking out. He quickly packs everything up, making sure to leave nothing of his there.

However, the Alpha isn’t so keen on letting Stiles leave. When he sees Stiles packing, he doesn’t react, but the moment Stiles heads for the the window to leave, the werewolf grabs the teen by the waist. The Alpha growls at him, but Stiles is honestly more scared of being found by staff than the giant puppy wolf. 

It takes Stiles nearly fifteen minutes to convince the werewolf to finally let him go. It involved a lot of promising to come back later than night with more food. Of course, the Alpha has to rub his muzzle against Stiles’s neck, ensuring that the teen is saturated in his scent. Only after he does that does he let Stiles escape through the window. 

(Stiles is partially concerned about what would happen if Scott actually decides to visit him and find him smelling like the Alpha. He’s not sure if he should feel disappointed or relieved that he doesn’t even get a text from Scott at all that day.)

As Stiles rolls off the momentum from his landing, he doesn’t notice the red eyes watching him from above. Nor does he notice the wolfish features melt into human ones, with curious electric blue eyes closely watching him sneak away.

\-----

Stiles gets a few hours of sleep. With no school and no assignments to work on, hell yes is he going to catch up on his sleep. Except he’s a little too hard wired to get more than the minimal amount his body needs.

He does make sure that his dad has a meal for that day. Otherwise, he spends the rest of his time split between looking up werewolf lore on the internet and digging up information on the Hale fire. 

He’s already starting to cover one of his walls with information about the fire with various colored strings connecting ideas together. Of course, most of the strings are red since he’s not sure how it all works out, but he’s sure he’ll get it eventually. Most likely with Peter helping out.

Stiles sneaks through the hospital halls just a little after midnight. He has another bag of food with him, a bacon cheeseburger, fries and a milkshake. He remembers how hungry Scott was after the full moon and guesses that Peter’s probably in the same state. Better to have diner food than a raw rabbit. Unless Peter enjoys that. Stiles wouldn’t be against getting the guy a rabbit if he really wanted one.

When Stiles slides into Peter’s room, he’s a bit relieved that it’s a man in bed and not a giant wolf. Peter is already awake and almost relaxes at the sight of Stiles. Although he quickly becomes interested in the bag of food. 

“Hey Peter, glad to see you’re doing better. You looked a bit ruff last night.” Peter glowers at Stiles, which just makes Stiles laugh. 

Stiles quickly hands over the food before Peter decides to try and hurt him over the pun. He kind of wants to make a couple of jokes about what happened last night, but decides against it. At least for now. Stiles is sure that once he knows Peter won’t try and kill him for it, he’ll totally be making as many wolf jokes as he can.

“So, what happened yesterday? You totally wolfed out without the full moon. I thought I was suppose to ground you or something, but you totally out of it.” 

Peter turns his head toward Stiles, but doesn’t stop eating. He slows down a little, as if he’s contemplating what to tell Stiles. He takes one more bite before answering.

“My nurse has been. . . drugging me.”

Stiles is instantly on alert, concern appearing all over his face.

“What, so she’s roofie-ing you?”

Peter rolls his eyes. “Nothing like that. She hasn’t done anything more than covering the fact that I’m not as comatose as the doctors would believe. The drugs simply forces out my more basic instincts.”

Stiles bites his lips. He knows that most human drugs should be ineffective on werewolves. The only thing he knows that does have an effect is wolfsbane.

“Why? I mean, she clearly knows something about werewolves if she can actually poison you. But why is she making you wolf out like that? She has to know that the attacks are being done by you. Unless she’s doing it on purpose so she can use that as an excuse to kill you. Hunters have a code, right, but what if she’s doing this so she’s not breaking the code when she kills you.”

“Doubtful. If that was her intent, she would have killed either after the first body was found or by the second one. However, whatever her plans are, as long as they don’t interfere with mine, it doesn’t matter. Until I’ve had my revenge, she can live.”

Stiles furrows his eyebrows in response. “Because drugging you so you’d lose control isn’t interfering? It seems like you should be dealing with her first. I mean, what are you going to do after you’ve dealt with everyone, keep pretending to be in a coma forever?”

Peter flashes red eyes at him, but Stiles isn’t just going to roll over and listen. Stiles is actually concerned about Peter, so he’s going to make sure the werewolf in front of his listens.

“Oh no. You’re not going to just show me those Alpha eyes and expect me to submit. Not a wolf remember? You don’t have to kill her, but we should at least get her to stop drugging you. Maybe get her in trouble with hospital so she’s gone for a little bit.”

“And then what? With her gone, it won’t take her long for the hospital to realize I’m not quite comatose. They’ll try to contact family and it won’t take long for word to reach the Argents.” Peter tries to be intimidating, but it doesn’t work very well since he’s alternating between shoving fries in his mouth and sipping his milkshake. 

“It’s not like they would try and kill you while you’re in a hospital. That would be insane and stupid. Plus, this would get you out of the hospital, where probably everyone knows you are. It wouldn’t be too difficult to find that you actually survived the fire. And this way, I don’t have to keep sneaking off in the dead of night to speak to you. It’s fine for now since someone caused enough damage for school to be out for a few days, but I do want to actually be able to sleep once school starts.”

Peter tilts his head in confusion. “They canceled school for a few days?”

Stiles huffs and crosses his arms over his chest. “That’s what you’re taking from that? Whatever. So, getting rid of nurse, yes?”

“No.” Stiles gives him an indignant look. “We have more important things to fret over than one measly nurse.”

Stiles rolls his eyes, but raises his hands in surrender. Peter looks particularly smug about it.

“Alright, Mr. Big Bad Alpha. What’s your plan of action?”

“Have you been looking into the fire yourself?” Peter already has an idea of who to go after next, but he wants to see what Stiles has discovered so far.

Stiles explains the wall of information he has in his room. Most of it comes from news articles and what he remembers from the police report. Stiles plans to get a copy of it when his dad’s not on shift.  
They spend the next few hours exchanging whatever information they have on the people responsible. Peter managed to get two names out from the video store clerk, but there’s still a couple of factors that don’t add up. They know for sure that Kate Argent was at least involved since both of the men that Peter went after had mentioned her. 

Stiles agrees to the grunt work after he makes Peter not to go out and attack anyone yet. If he’s not allowed to get rid of the nurse for fear of drawing attention, then Peter’s shouldn’t go around killing people, especially since people already believe the cause of the animal attacks to be dead. Of course, Stiles knows that Peter isn’t letting the topic drop, but he’ll take what he can for now. He’s about to ask Peter if there’s anything else he could do when a yawn escapes from him. 

“You should go for now.” Stiles would swear that it was due to how tired the older man looked, but Peter almost has a look of concern for Stiles. He’s about to protest when he gives off another yawn. 

“Alright, alright. I’ll go. Anything else you want to ask of me, Oh Great Alpha?”

Peter grins at him. “Cheeky brat. Some books?”

“Books? Getting bored with your diabolical planning and need inspiration?” Stiles grabs the trash from early to take with him. 

“It’s not as if I’m actually asleep all day. Get me something from your own collection if you must. Anything would be better than listening to the nurses gossip.”

“Got it. See you tomorrow, Peter.” Stiles smiles at the man before exiting once more through the window. Much easier than dealing with walking through the halls. He half wishes he could climb through the window when he comes in, but alas, no easy grips. 

(He also tries not to think too hard of the implications of him climbing into an older man’s room, even if said man is stuck in the hospital. Actually, scratch that; especially if he’s in the hospital where doctors still thinks he’s in a coma. Stiles is a lot of things, but not a creep.)

\-----

They repeat this process for the next couple of days while Stiles is still out of school. Stiles would come in around midnight, hand Peter a bag of food, and then they would talk for the rest of the night. When Stiles does start school, it’s also the same, but he doesn’t come every night nor stay for as long.

Stiles doesn’t let Peter know how much he’s starting to look forward to these midnight trysts. Between Scott still ignoring him at school and his dad always busy with work, he’s gotten a bit lonely. He wonders if Peter feels the same, seeing as the man has yet to receive another visitor besides him. 

Stiles does eventually get a copy of the police report and together they combed through it together, seeing if they could find some sort of evidence the police looked over. Combining that with the information Peter had taken from his first two victims, they were slowly piecing together what had happened at the fire. 

Of course, they do end up arguing over a couple of points. Once Peter is sure about two of the arsonist that are currently in town, he’s ready to run out and rip some throats. Stiles has to convince him out of it, using logic to remind the older werewolf that they want to keep a low profile while Peter heals his mind. 

“Right. Announce to the world that the werewolf they’re looking for is still at large. You might as well leave a trail straight to your door.”

“I refuse to leave those two unpunished! They need to suffer for what they did.”

“Hey, I’m not saying they don’t. I’m just saying they’ll be more useful to us alive for now. We can use them to get to the Argents. And wouldn’t dragging the Argent name through the mud be better than having the world think they were victims of an animal attack?”

He might be the Alpha, but brute strength can only do so much damage. A quick death would be merciful to what Stiles can think up. Plus, Peter can’t take on the Argents with just Stiles for backup in a head on encounter. 

(Actually, they probably could but Stiles rather keep that ability hidden for as long as possible. Part of him is so used to hiding what he is, he barely register that decision.)

They discuss getting Derek involved, but Peter refuses to be the one to make contact. He still blames the other werewolf for abandoning him while he was comatose. And there’s no way either of them will allow Scott to get involved.

Stiles comes up with a plan to share the information they’ve gathered to the Sheriff. Having spent so much time at the office growing up, he knows what kind of evidence he needs to collect for there to be a solid case. He just needs a little bit more time to get enough to present the case to his dad.

“Your dad will just take the word of a child and gather the necessary information to put the Kate in jail?”

“Well, no, but that’s why we’re gathering proof. He might not believe what I tell him, but he can’t deny evidence even if I’m initially presenting it to him.”

They don’t spend every visit discussing their plans. On some nights, either Peter or Stiles is just a little too tired to contribute much mentally. So they want movies or TV shows on Stiles’s Macbook. They have over six years of material to cover. Those nights remind Stiles of how much Peter lost in the fire, and how human the werewolf can be. 

It awakens a protectiveness in him that he had only reserved for his dad and Scott. Watching the occasional forlorn look appear in his eyes makes Stiles just want to forgo his own arguments and shred those responsible for the fire to pieces. 

He resists the urge though. That wouldn’t help either of them nor would it allow Peter to heal from the tragedy. Instead, Stiles just does his best on those nights to remind Peter of the world outside and how much there is he can do once he’s had his revenge. If he’s going to be pack and Peter’s anchor, then he’ll be the best goddamn anchor there is. 

Eventually, after the third week in which Peter loses control of his wolf form, Stiles convinces Peter to at least let him deal with the nurse. The full moon is just as bad for Peter as the previous ones were. Even with Stiles at his side during the full moon, the pull of the moon is painful with the drugs in his veins. Peter is also relieved that he didn’t hurt Stiles while at the mercy of his baser instincts. 

Peter rolls his eyes at Stiles after the teen gives yet another reason why the nurse needs to go. 

“Do what you feel you have to. I certainly won’t stop you.”

Stiles gives the older man the biggest shit eating grin ever. “Awesome. Then I guess this is a good time to tell you I’ve already dealt with her.” Upon seeing the older man’s face of disbelief, Stiles wants to burst out laughing. 

“In a few hours, she’s be under investigation for drugging her patients and will most likely be gone before the end of the week.”

Peter rolls his eyes at him, but Stiles can tell the werewolf looks happier. A little more relieved. Peter may not have wanted to take action against her since she was technically helping him hide, but the drugs were clearly taking their toll on his already damaged psyche. Stiles is more than happy to get rid of her. 

He’s running low on food anyway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, and ghouls can only eat people. A body will usually feed them for about a month, although they can certainly eat more often than that.


	3. Head of a Wolf

Ash, smoke, and _burning_.

Those are Peter’s last thoughts as he goes unconscious. Then, darkness.

For a while, Peter feels like he’s asleep, like the state in which a person is aware they are asleep, but is not quite dreaming.

Then the nightmares picks up and once again, and all he knows is _pain_. Someone is screaming and all he can smell is the burning of their home and the charcoaling of his pack’s flesh.

Occasionally, there are moments where he gets a relief from the screaming and the burning, but it makes the nightmares even worse, knowing what will happen to his pack and able to do nothing to stop it.

Peter doesn’t know for how long the nightmares has played in his head, but he can feel his sanity slipping from him. He swears revenge for his fallen pack, curses whoever is responsible for what happened. Then the burning starts again and he wishes he had died. He wonders if he hasn’t died and this is hell.

He tries to feel for his packmates, to see if anyone is still alive, but all he senses are broken pack bonds. There are two weak ones, but they feel just like the rest, like a lost limb. He rages, more feral animal than man.

He can detect his body is slowly healing, but with no pack bonds, his werewolf healing is as slow as a human. He can still feel the burning of his flesh.

\-----

Then one day, in the darkness of his mind, he senses a buzzing at the edge of his senses. He latches on to it, concentrating all his healing to whatever sense detected that presence. He doesn’t care what it is, but he knows he needs it like a drowning man needs air.

The buzzing in the darkness becomes a ringing in his ears and suddenly, he realizes someone is talking to him.

“-sny Stilinski, but no one except my mom and her family can say it so everyone calls me Stiles. Well, when I say everyone, I really only mean my dad, my best friend Scott, and his mom. Oh, and Heather and her family. That’s about it though. Anyway-”

Peter loses awareness. He directed too much energy into healing his hearing. When his mind burns him with the nightmare again, he focuses on one word, letting himself drown out all other sounds but it.

Stiles.

It becomes a shield against the screams. Against the cries of his nieces of nephews as they burn and demand he save them. He cannot save them anymore, but he will save himself.

\-----

The next time he is pulled out of his nightmare and into awareness, there is voice next to him.

“ _-don’t think you’re a waste of space._ Huh, the Dursley are so weird. They spent seventeen years hating this kid for existing, and then poof, he suddenly saves one of them and it’s like everythings okay now. Well, I guess that makes Harry weird too. Totally should have let that kid die two books ago, but whatever. You must think I’m pretty weird. My dad says he hopes I grow my morals before I become an adult, but I-”

Peter knew from the first time he heard him, his speaker is a child. There’s a decent amount of squeakiness to the voice. Peter finds it beautiful.

His boy his back and as Peter loses himself in that voice, he realizes he’s trying to form a pack bond with the child. His other bonds are still just as broken as before, but he can tell there is a new bond trying to form. He wonders how long child has been with him, speaking to him.

Peter wants to hear more, to get away from the otherwise fiendish hell of his family dying.

He doesn’t have a pack anymore, but he can start a new one with the wonderful child that visits him. He wonders what sort of parent allows their child to visit strange men in the hospital. He’s not sure he particularly cares as long as Stiles keeps visiting him.

\-----

“ _-until the end,’ said James._ Hm. No offense but your family sucks. Er, not the dead ones, but the two living ones. Ms. McCall said you have two living relatives, but they don’t ever visit. I would know since I come here every day after I see my mom. I get that you’re not awake and all, and that somehow freaks people out, but still. My mom sometimes yells at me, because she doesn’t remember who I am, but I can’t imagine not being here for her. So don’t worry, I’ll stay here with you for-”

His wolf howls. Peter had wondered if that part of him had burned away in the fire. However, with the pack bond growing stronger between him and the child, his healing is beginning to pick up. It’s nowhere near where it was before the fire, but it’s enough.

Then the words hit him and he is angry. It’s a different sort of anger than that against those who burned his family. His packmates had abandon him. Except, as he examines the broken pack bonds, he wonders if they think he’s as dead as he would have thought they were. The only reason he knows they are not is because his boy told him.

Although, logically, he would have also figured it out on his own eventually, because Derek and Laura would have been at school during the time of the fire. That, and the fact that their faces are not amongst those in his nightmares.

Still, the pack bond between him and the child is enough for him to start healing other parts of him. He decides his sense of smell should could back to him next. After a moment, he regrets directing his healing toward that sense when the smell of the hospital hits him like a wave.

However, underneath the stench of bleach and sickness and death, he can smell the child next to him. A male human child from what his scent tells him, although Peter already knew that. As strange as a human is for visiting some random stranger, it makes more sense than a werewolf. There would have been no way a werewolf child would have been allowed, especially if there’s no relation.

The boy smells of fresh grass and cold steel. There is also the smell of wilderness and gunpowder. For a moment, Peter is afraid the child is from a family of hunters. But then quickly decides he doesn’t care. If the boy does comes from hunters, then when Peter is better, he’ll simply steal the boy away.

He loses himself back to the darkness. In the midst of the his nightmares, he can detect the scent of his boy breaking through the stench of ash and fire.

\-----

He has no way of keeping track of time. He knows the child must visit often for his scent to be so saturated in his room. He can faintly tell that the scent is equally strong in the room down the hall from his. He wonders who else the child is visiting.

Days must pass between each time Peter comes to awareness because the child has started a hand full of new books each time. The boy provides commentary every now and then, so if Peter didn’t know the books the child was reading, he could figure out when a new one was started. Peter doesn’t care about the stories. He just wants to be near his new pack.

One visit, Peter hears the sound of gentle orchestral. It is calming, a sharp contrast to the screaming in his head.

“No book today, sorry. I don’t feel like reading so I hope you don’t mind some Mozart. I’d play some rock, but they wouldn’t let me and this is the only music they have that I can stand.”

Peter hears the sliding of the boy’s bag on to the floor and can hear the boy slink down into the chair next to his bed. The next breath Peter takes is filled with the scent of the boy next to him. It reeks of sadness. It makes him wish he could move so he could comfort his boy.

Peter wonders what Stiles is thinking about. This is the longest the child had remained quiet around him and it worries him when he doesn’t even hear the sound of paper rustling or of a pen against paper. The usually energetic boy is much too still today.

“She called me monster today. Said I’m an abomination.”

Although Peter cannot move, his wolf howls and snarls at those words. His wolf wants to hurt the one that caused his boy pain with those words.

“I know she didn’t mean to. Mom is- she’s not herself right. Doctors say she has frontotemporal dementia, so she’s losing her mind. I don’t- I just.”

Peter suddenly feels very stiff. His wolf now howls in grief for the poor boy. The person the boy visits down the hall must be his mother. Suddenly, he remembers the first time the boy informed him of his family. He had mentioned his mother that time too, but Peter was too full of grief and anger at his ex-packmates to realize.

For a moment, the boy doesn’t say anymore. Suddenly, Peter can feel small hands grab his left one and the back of his hand comes into contact with the boy’s face. His wolf whimpers. Peter could also cry in relief at the first contact he’s had in years.

“Sorry. I probably shouldn’t bother you like this, but I just need something, you know. Contact is suppose to be good right. Except when it’s bad. Er, I’m sorry I’m taking advantage of you. I’ll make it up to you next time.”

They stay like that for a while and when Peter goes under again, he lets the feeling of the boy’s skin against his and the gentle sound of Mozart wash over him.

\-----

When Peter feels himself come to awareness, he realizes Stiles is already in the room with him. The boy is working through his homework, math it seems. Stiles counts downs the number of problems left as he works through them.

It doesn’t take long for him to finish and it makes Peter wonder how long the boy has been there. His scent is much happier today. Peter is glad that last visit had not too badly affect his boy. Stiles starts reading to him Lord of the Rings, and he loses himself to the sound of Stiles talking about hobbits.

The next few visits blur for Peter. He’s still healing, ever so slowly, but while he can sense the world, he can’t interact with it. There are days when he wishes he was healing faster so he could comfort his boy, who smelled horribly of grief and despair after the visits with his mom.

He starts listening to the rest of the hospital. Dates are being thrown around, but at least Peter can now start tracking the passage of time. More than three years have passed since the fire.

\-----

One day, he smells blood on the boy and his wolf panics. The boy doesn’t smell injured but he stinks of blood. Yet, underneath it, Peter can smell a hint of pride and a smidge of frustration. Stiles mentions nothing that could be related why he reeks of blood.

The smell disappears the next day. But roughly thirty days later, the boy comes to visit smelling like blood again. His wolf howls, wanting to know why and wishing it could protect the boy. Yet again, the boy doesn’t smell injured.

By the fifth time the boy comes in smelling like blood, nearly thirty days between each time, Peter knows it’s a pattern. It’s the type of blood that comes from an injury, but the boy has no cut or bruises. Peter would have thought someone was hurting his human if not for the fact the scent always disappears after one visit. It doesn’t make any sense.

Besides the monthly scent of blood, the boy seems healthy. There are days when visiting his mother causes him grief, but he doesn’t stop visiting, just like he promised. Some days, when his mother’s words are too much, he just sits there, holding Peter’s hand. He plays music so that no matter what, his visits are certainly not quiet. Peter appreciates that. When his head isn’t filled with screaming, it’s much too quiet.

\-----

One session, Stiles is reading to him White Fang, which Peter thinks is hilarious. In the middle of reading, Stiles says something that catches his attention.

“-which is stupid. Ugh. I can’t believe they ruled your house fire an accident. An accident! Like seriously, it was straight up murder. I brought it up to my dad at the station, and his deputies just laughed at me. I mean, okay, I’m thirteen, but-”

Peter doesn’t hear the other words Stiles speaks. His mind is to caught in the fact that the fire that took his family from his was deemed an accident. Rage rushes through his veins and he wishes he could tear something apart.

He suddenly remembers the Argent bitch was in town before the fire. He had tried to warn Talia to take action, but she disagreed. She claimed that the Argents follow a code and that their family had done nothing wrong. Now she and the rest of their family is dead and his rage ignites anew. But then the pack bond pings against his anger and he remembers himself.

He still is unable to move, but he knows he’s healing. Maybe in a year or so, he’ll be able to fully move and leave the hospital. He can get revenge for his family and find a way to keep the boy at his side forever. He’s lost enough packmates, he refuses to lose this one.

\-----

Time passes. Stiles smells too much of anguish. He spends less time in his mother’s room and more at Peter’s. If Peter concentrates really hard, he can hear the word monster thrown around in her room, with claims that it’s trying to eat her. He wonders what sort of state the poor woman must be in to refer to her son as such.

Then, on a day Peter did not expect Stiles to smell like blood, the scent is there. Except, unlike other times, Stiles smells injured this time. The boy doesn’t say anything, nor does he play music. He simply sits in the chair next to Peter’s bed and grabs the older man’s hands.

Peter can feel his left hand being cradled against Stiles smaller ones. Stiles brings the larger hand up to his face, and Peter swears the boy is trying to inhale his scent. Yet the boy says nothing. For now.

Several heartbeats later, Stiles starts talking. And he cries as he speaks.

His boy cries as he speaks of the mother who shouted at him, accusing him of being the source of her problems. Shouted at how he’s a demon that shouldn’t have been born. A freak against nature. 

He cries as he tells Peter how his own mother tried to kill him earlier that day. She had scratched at his face, trying to claw his eyes out, before trying to choke him to death. Thankfully, his dad had been nearby to save him.

When the tears finally stop, there is a moment of silence. Then the boy talks about how he wishes his mother would die already. At this point, Stiles would rather she die so he could keep the memories of the woman who loved him. Who taught him so much. Who didn’t hate him. He doesn’t want to keep seeing the weak women before him. He doesn’t want to see her becomes someone else wearing his mother’s face.

Stiles hugs his arm and Peter desperately wishes he could hug back, to provide some comfort. His wish goes ignored.

If only I was an Alpha, Peter chants in his mind. If I was an Alpha, I could have protected my family. I can protect my little packmate. I can heal.

If only I was an Alpha, he tells himself.

\-----

Stiles does not come by the next day. Nor the day after that. And not the day after that one. Four days go by and without his packmate daily visits, Peter loses himself to the darkness.

When he gets a sense of awareness, he doesn’t know how long it has been. However, Stiles scent is gone and Peter can’t detect it anywhere in the hospital. The scent that came from down the hall was gone too, replaced by another.

He hears two nurses talking nearby and he catches Stiles’s name in their conversation.

“-mother passed. The funeral was a few days ago. Poor kid.”

“Didn’t he use to visit one of the other patients too? I was told by the other nurses that he visited room 205 quite often.”

“Yeah. Peter Hale. He’s been in coma since the Hale House fire. However, the hospital allowed it while Stiles’s mother was here. Figured it would help both of them. But now that she’s passed, they probably won’t allow it.”

“That’s such a shame.”

“Well, enough gossip. Since you’re new, why don’t you go introduce yourself to your new patients while you do your rounds?”

“Sure. Thanks Melissa.”

Peter feels a sense of loss. However, he can still feel the pack bond and it still acts as an anchor for him. But he knows it will weaken over time without Stiles visiting. He hopes it will be enough for him to heal up.

Too caught up in his own thoughts, he didn’t notice the footsteps entering his room. However, he certainly noticed the needle in his arm.

The last words he hears before he goes under is his new nurse introducing herself, saying her name’s Jennifer.

\-----

Peter loses all sense of time. He’s once more buried underneath the screaming of his family and their burning. Thoughts of revenge is the only thing that roars through his mind.

He can’t sense any of his pack bonds, broken or not. He knows something is wrong, but he can’t focus long enough to figure it out. His mind is burning once again. He wishes it would stop. Begs for anything to take it all away.

The nights of the full moon are the worse. When Stiles still visited, he was content with listening to the child speak. However, now his wolf desires nothing more than to find something, or someone, to tear into shreds. He feels more wolf than man at this point.

Several full moons ago by like this. His mind is too lost to figure out the passage of time otherwise, but his body knows the moon. His wolf roars at the forefront of his mind and his human side struggles for control. Full moons have never been so awful. Desires for revenge courses through him, burning him with the need to hunt, the need to hurt. There’s nothing to ground him.

Then, one full moon, his body feels like it’s running wild. Suddenly, he realizes his eyes are open and he is actually moving. The wolf has surrendered enough control for his human side to take over just a bit. He looks up and sees the dark sky before him, full moon shining brightly up ahead.

“Uncle Peter?”

He turns and all his conscious mind can tell is that there is a foreign werewolf on his territory. Their throat is ripped out before Peter realizes what he’s doing. A part of him recoils in horror upon finding the person he just killed was his own niece, but that part of him drowns in the madness of his wolf. His ex-packmate who abandoned him deserves nothing less.

By the time his wolf is calm enough for his human mind to take over, Laura is already torn in two. He stares out in dread, but before it can even sink in, he hears a sound from the hospital and he’s bound towards it.

The wolf crawls back into the second floor hospital room. Inside, the female nurse is there, holding a whistle. Before he can react, there is a needle in his arm and he’s losing consciousness.

However, he doesn’t stay under for more than a few hours. Whatever drug he’s been injected with is no match for the healing powers of an Alpha. His mind is clear for the first time after a long haze and he realizes his nurse knows that he is a werewolf.

Most human drugs have no effect on werewolves, let alone the strength to do to him what it did. As his mind clears, vague memories of the last several months come to him. He’s been running through the Preserve as a wolf for the last full moons with the nurse letting him out and calling him back in each time.

Peter doesn’t understand what she hopes to gain from this, but for right now, all he cares about is the fact that Alpha powers race through his veins. He had murdered his own niece, sweet Laura, and now he’s an Alpha.

He doesn’t dwell on it long. He has much more important plans, like finding who caused the fire and creating a new pack. Without the drugs in his veins, his mind is finally more human than wolf. He can once more sense the pack bond to his human, though weakened by time and distance.

Just as the sun sets for the day, Peter once again leaves his hospital room, seeking out across his pack bond, hoping to find him. It draws him back to the Preserve, close to where he was last night. He doesn’t question why his little human is here, just knows that he needs to claim him.

He can smell his packmate here, although the scent of other humans are present. He doesn’t want to get too close so he stays away from where the scent of humans are concentrated. Then, he picks up a faint scent just a little bit away.

He spots a human boy, smelling faintly like his boy along with another scent. For a moment, he wonders if this human knows of his human, to smell so strongly of his packmate. The wolf in him, driven by the new powers of an Alpha, howl at him to make more packmates. Making a hasty decision, he bites this human. Although he can not get to his human for now, he hopes biting this human this will lead him to Stiles.

He doesn’t stay long after that, not really caring too much if the bite takes or not. His pack will grow eventually. For now, he needs to rest before he starts hunting down those responsible for the fire.

\-----

Peter’s first task is to find out what happened to the house. He knows Talia had it insured. Being in California meant forest fires are not uncommon and since their house is in the middle of the Preserve, better safe than sorry. However, with the fire deemed an accident, there is no house insurance money to collect. Peter decides to pay the man who made that claim a visit.

The moment the man sees his scarred face, the human drops to his knees and begs for forgiveness. Too bad for the human, Peter’s mercy burned up in the fire. He doesn’t kill the scum out right. Rather, Peter leaves him torn up and in pain, knowing that while the suffering won’t be anywhere near what he suffered, the man will not die peacefully.

Peter only gets from the man that a woman convinced him to forge the insurance papers. He doesn’t know who was exactly at the fire beyond her, although he does give off the names of potential arsonist that were in Beacon Hills at the time. The list is long, but it was so the insurance company could keep an eye out for fraud. That year had be rife with fires. That was probably why the Hale House fire had been written off as an accident so easily.

A quick Google search is enough for him to find that only one person on the list was ever convicted. The list was, in fact, less of a list of arsonist and more of a list of people know to commit insurance fraud. If Peter could, he would have ripped the guy another hole. Still, Peter now has a goal. A target.

It proves more bountiful than the first hunt. This time, Peter leaves the bloodied scene with two more names and the knowledge that Kate Argent had a direct hand in this whole thing. He’ll enjoy mangling her flesh apart.

Peter also catches Derek’s scent while in town. He doesn’t have time to deal with the pathetic pup so he quickly ditches him. Especially when Kate Argent is so close. However, he quickly realizes that even with the powers of an Alpha, with his mind so divided, he won’t be able to take her down easily. Nevermind the fact that he was her to suffer before she finally croaks.

No, for now, he’ll allow her to stew, knowing she will constantly be hunted until he has his revenge. Besides, he still has a few more people to hunt down before he takes on Argent. He doesn’t care that his nephew has been shot. The brat needs to learn to take care of himself.

He doesn’t leave the hospital the next night. At least, he has no plans to. No, better to figure out his next steps before recklessly rushing to action. 

However, his wolf will not let him rest quietly. If it cannot go hunt, it at least wishes to visit their packmates. It has been too long since he’s had contact with his pack. He was thinking of discretely seeking the two out, just to make sure they were alright.

That would have been the plan if it a howling didn’t summon him. Next thing he knows, he’s bound for his former high school. When he sees how close Derek is to Stiles and the werewolf he made, he lashes out, his claws going deep into his nephew. Thankfully, the wounds are not too bad. Derek won’t die from it, so Peter just leaves him there. He has more important matters to attend to.

Peter can feel himself losing control to his wolf. He wants to chase after the two, force his beta to submit and give the bite to Stiles. The last thing he does before he gives chase is try and give reason for the police to ignore the hunt.

His boy is wonderful. While the beta and the other children that end up joining them all reek of fear, Stiles doesn’t at all. Stiles smells of sweat and excitement. He’s clearing enjoying the chase as much as Peter is. When Stiles has the galls to taunt him after trapping in the boiler room, something awakens in him. This simple human dare challenges an Alpha? How could he possible let Stiles go now?

Peter played with them some more, trying to figure out the extend of his control over his beta. The kid didn’t have much control so a simple command was enough. But it appears he was trying to connect to his own anchor, allowing him just enough control to break free. Hm, maybe the brat won’t be so useless after all.

\-----

He doesn’t realize how exhausted he is until he gets back to the hospital. His body is healing much faster as an Alpha, but it still has to work through six years of muscle atrophy. Running so much in one night had never been so tiring.

However, he instantly becomes alert when he detects Stiles walking through the hospital. His wolf wants nothing more than to bite the human, force him to submit. But his rational side understands that if he does this, he might alienate the kid from him. Humans don't always understand the same way a wolf does.

When Stiles sits next to him, he doesn't react. Peter wants to see what the kid plans to do. Then Stiles starts talking. For a moment, Peter merely lies there, pondering on his boy's words. His wolf is still struggling against his control, wanting to at least scent mark the teen, but Peter needs to carefully decide his course of action. Stiles has shown potential and might be a great assist in his plans.

Then Stiles panics and starts mumbling about Derek as an Alpha and magical twins, and Peter almost loses it. He can't hold back all of his laughter though. He opens his eyes to look at Stiles and Peter could barely hold back the urge to crackle.

The poor teen looks like a deer caught in headlights, eyes blown wide open. He greets the teen and those whiskey colored gems narrow, reminding Peter this is the person who dared to taunt an Alpha werewolf. He ponders what thoughts are going through Stiles’s mind. 

“Does being a werewolf automatically mean muscles and being totally ripped? Seriously, six year in a coma and still having some serious guns. Like what the fuck. Or is that an alpha thing?” the words quietly float through the air.

Of course, he gets his wish when he stretches his arms over his head. Keeping the same positions for hours at a time is surprisingly tiring, even with werewolf stamina. Peter’s not even sure Stiles realizes that he said those comments out loud, judging by the look in his eyes. When Peter does point it out, Stiles develops quite the blush on his face. 

That doesn’t mean he’s not thinking about the words that came out of Stiles’s mouth earlier. He needs pack. Nevermind the fact that as a werewolf, he’s only as strong as his pack. He wants more than the memories of his dead pack. Someone to anchor him away from the screaming in his head. 

But the only other werewolves in town include his nephew, who is refusing to acknowledge him, and the errant beta he created. So when Stiles all but offers himself on a silver platter to Peter, he takes it without hesitation. 

His wolf howls in excitement and he can barely focus on the conversation at hand. Stiles doesn’t exactly trust him and Peter doesn’t blame him. However, he does try to give an insight into his head. There is a pack bond between them, and although weakened by time, Peter knows that if Stiles agrees to it willingly, it’ll make him stronger than having a pack bond with an unwilling member.

Peter really shouldn’t be surprised when Stiles just accepts his words and head straight into plotting. The little nod Stiles does before he launches into an impressive babble of words is enough to settle the wolf down. 

The scene is familiar to him. It’s almost enough to get him to relax, but the gentle pattering of footsteps remind him that it’s still the middle of the night and they are in a hospital. He has to silence Stiles before he gives away the fact that someone is here after hours. It might make future trips difficult after all. 

Stiles catches on quickly. Peter’s reluctant to let the kid go, but he’s a patient man. What’s another day or two? Besides, things are already going better than he originally planned. 

Although he does wonder why Stiles chooses to jump out the window. Last he check, they should be on the second floor. Not high enough to break anything, but not a safe height either. However, he doesn’t hear anything break so he guesses the kid landed safely. 

With Stiles’s willingness, Peter can already feel the pack bond grow between them. The wolf is calm for once, content to be acknowledged by pack. Even the screams have dulled. His head is clearing up a bit. He can feel hope for the first time in years. 

He will have his revenge and nothing can stop him.

\-----

But, of course, nothing goes as he expected that night. He’s briefly conscious enough to notice the slight burning sensation in his arm before going completely under.

_Wolf feels pain. Yet not the burning pain from before. An emptiness sort of pain._

Where is pack? The room smells like pack, but he is no where in sight. There is someone else in the room instead. Not pack. He doesn’t go into his full alpha form for that reason alone. He is aware enough that doing so will result in something bad.

Instead, he lets his body be caught between human and wolf. More human than wolf. 

He doesn’t run off like usually. Pack said to meet here again tonight. He cannot miss pack. Thankfully, the bitch leaves the room while his body is still in pain. Good. He would have ripped her apart otherwise.

Wolf wants to howl, call to pack. But he doesn’t want to draw unwanted attention. There are many enemies in town. So he waits. He does that a lot, but he doesn’t mind waiting for pack. He tries to nap while he waits.

He doesn’t have to wait long. The moment he detects Stiles’s scent getting closer, he shifts fully into his more wolf-like form. The form is more proper.

Pack smells hurt though. Not a physical pain, but someone has hurt his packmate. He reaches out to comfort his pack, but Stiles stops him from doing so. Instead, Stiles just starts rubbing his scent over him. Wolf doesn’t mind. The touch is comforting and the scent of pack is especially nice.

Then Stiles mentions food so he takes him over to his nest. It’s not a particularly nice nest, but it will have to do. His human side cannot leave this place just yet. 

His pack is so wonderful. Between the food and the constant contact, this is what pack should be. Then Stiles tries to leave the nest and he cannot allow that. Wolf makes sure to keep a hold on pack. However, the scent of iron hits him and he freezes. The hand above his head rubbing his ears makes him loosen his hold. The scent of iron disappears. 

But pack doesn’t leave. Instead, he just pulls out a computer. Wolf lets out a quiet whine and rubs his muzzle into Stiles as an apology. Pack seems to understand as Stiles rubs his ears again. 

Wolf does not grab Stiles like before, simply content to press his wolf form against the small human body. The scent of pack calms him down. He can’t seem to get enough of it.

“Alright you silly wolf, since you can’t seem to shift back, we’re just going to watch Youtube videos all night. No promise that it won’t be all funny cat videos though.”

_Wolf did not really care. He just wanted pack to stay. Although he does growl after the fourth cat video._

“Alright, alright. Heh, you lasted longer than I expected you would. Okay, what else can we watch?”

_Music starts playing from the little buds. Pack changes position so he’s lying down on his stomach. Wolf moves to accommodate. They both barely fit on the bed this way._

Wolf examines his pack, much more concerned about the young man sitting next to him than the videos. The scent of iron from before had not disappeared completely. If he concentrates, he can faintly detect it coming from pack’s lower back.

It is the scent of iron, almost like blood yet not quite, from when pack used to visit on a daily basis. He wonders what is the source of the scent. He goes to press his nose closer, but then Stiles pushes him away.

“Ack! Peter, what are you doing?”

_Pack ends up falling off the bed. Wolf peers over the edge of the bed to stare at the fallen pack member._

“Geez, you can’t go around sniffing people’s butt. That’s just weird. And rude.”

_Wolf makes a low whining sound. Pack keeps misunderstanding him. Although, now he’s a little worried about the glint in Stiles’s eye._

“Can you give me a paw up?” 

_Wolf just stared at the boy, who has a silly grin on his face. If he was in human form, he’d give the teen a deadpan stare. As a wolf, he settles on baring his teeth at Stiles._

“Alright, no need to howler over me.”

_Pack climbs back on to the bed, settling next to him. Wolf thinks that is the last of Stiles’s comments and turns back to the computer._

“We’re really packed into the bed aren’t we?”

_Wolf stares at the boy sitting next to him. He really hopes this doesn’t end up how he thinks it will._

The next few hours prove him wrong.

“You really wolfed down your food early. Should I bring more tomorrow?”

“She’s really mooning over him, isn’t she?”

“He really dogged that one.”

_Wolf huffed in annoyance. He normal doesn’t care about this sort of thing. He actually enjoys listening to Stiles speak, and pack has a much nicer scent when he’s having fun. However, his human side is ready to put his teeth on the human’s throat._

So Peter turns to lightly grip Stiles’s throat with his teeth. Stiles didn’t even have time to react.

“Ack! Okay, I’ll stop. No need to hound me about it.”

He growls, and puts more pressure on the throat in his mouth. Peter doesn’t want to hurt the teen, just enough to get him to stop. He doesn’t think he can stand another pun.

Stiles tilts his head up, giving Peter more access to his neck. Judging by the grin on the teen’s face, Stiles doesn’t mind being manhandled like this. Peter applies a bit more pressure for a moment before finally letting go. 

He gently licks the area where he bit down, checking to make sure he didn’t actually harm his human. Besides the trail of drool, Stiles’s neck looks untouched.

_Once he’s sure Stiles is fine, he gathers the teen back into his arms, settling down to watch whatever shows his human puts up. He can hear Stiles give off a content sigh, before pressing closer. Another video is playing. More music._

Peter can feel the drug wearing off, although he still feels more wolf than human. It’s enough for him to start thinking clearly, even if he’s more comfortable in his current form than his human body. 

He’s pleasantly surprised at how Stiles didn’t even panic when sharp teeth touched his throat. He just relaxed in Peter’s grip and bared his throat even more, submitting perfectly. Peter is pretty amazed at how Stiles trusted him enough, that even as a wolf, to not worry about being hurt by him. He’s not sure how to feel about that, especially since they only really properly met just the day before.

_Pack. He understands pack._

It’s maybe another hour or two later when Stiles slides out of the bed. When he realizes the teen is getting ready to leave, his wolf almost panics.

_Pack. Stay._

Rationally, Peter understands that Stiles needs to leave before staff gets here. 

_Don’t want to be alone._

His arms are wrapped around Stiles before he even realizes what he’s doing. His nose is pressed into Stiles’s hair. The teen looks up at him mildly surprised.

Stiles doesn’t take long to understand. He smiles gently at the werewolf.

“Hey, I’ll come back later tonight, okay? But I need to leave for now, so you’re going to have to let me go.”

_A whine._

Stiles whispers promises to come back, but Peter is too caught up in his instincts to not let him go. 

_The human had made a similar promise years ago. A promise to visit that he broke. He was so lonely, with nothing but the burning memories of his family. He doesn’t want to go back to that._

Peter has to remind himself that it’s different now. For one thing, Stiles is coming to visit him specifically. And since he’s sneaking in at night, there’s not exactly someone that can tell him no.

_But pack._

Will come back later, he reminds himself. If Stiles can trust him enough to bare his neck, Peter can trust Stiles to come back.

“I promise to bring you a nice, big burger later, but I seriously need to go for now.”

Peter reins in his wolf. He’s not some mindless animal that’s ruled by instincts. Of course, he doesn’t fully let go before rubbing his cheeks all over Stiles’s neck. His scent should remain there for longer.

As he watches the teen disappear into the dawning horizon, Peter questions himself on getting so close to the teen. Not just how physically close they were during the night, but how his wolf has come to trust Stiles so easily. 

He wonders if it’s just another side-effect from the fire. Before it, he had never been so touchy with his family, but now it seems like he can’t get enough of it. His instincts call for him to keep Stiles at his side. 

Stiles’s scent pulls at him. There is something about it that Peter just can’t find the words to describe. However, what he’s most curious about is the scent of blood coming from Stiles’s lower back. Knowing the source seems to be from his back just raises more questions. 

Peter is sure he’ll figure it out eventually. If not, then hopefully, he’ll get Stiles to explain. He’s sure they’ll have lots to talk about in the future. Like his behavior while he was more wolf than human.

He’s grateful that Stiles doesn’t seem offput by his actions while shifted. The kid will most likely have questions when he comes back. He hopes he’ll be able to answer them properly.

Peter sighs as he leans back into the bed. Even though it was mostly a relaxing night, he still feels exhausted. His mind drifts toward his nurse. 

The drug she’s using on him is clearly causing him to lose control of his instincts, letting the wolf dominate his mind. He’s not sure what do about her. On one hand, he clearly needs to get rid of her, so he can keep his mind clear. His mind was trapped for years in his head. That should never happen again.

On the other hand, she might be working with the hunters to keep him subdue. If she suddenly disappears, who knows what the hunters will do to him then. No, better to keep himself hidden, taking them out from the shadows. He can endure it for now.

By the time the hunters think to check on him, it’ll be too late for them.

\-----

Of course Stiles would focus on what caused him to lose control and not pay attention to his actions. Peter’s not sure if he impressed by Stiles’s train of thought or terrified by it. Stiles certainly has an active imagination. 

Stiles does have a point about his nurse, but Peter rather not have attention drawn to them. Especially since one of them is a hospital patient and the other is a high school student. His nurse is for sure associated with the hunters, maybe even the ones that murdered his family. If they had no qualms about murdering children, he doesn’t want to think about what they would do to Stiles. 

Stiles looks like he wants to keep arguing, but he relents. Peter is sure this won’t be the last he’ll hear about his nurse from him. For now, he’ll simply enjoy the fact that Stiles is submitting to him, even if he occasionally denies doing so to the Alpha.

They move onto other topics. Stiles still has questions, and Peter will certainly do his best to answer them. Stiles does have a tendency to get side tracked though. 

\-----

“So what does pack mean exactly? I tried to Google it, but most of it was fanfiction. And gods, were some of them awful and/or downright horrifying.”

“I’m not really sure what you were expecting. I also don’t want to know what you found.”

“Aww. Not even a little. I can tell you about this one story-”

“If you continue, I will rip out your tongue and choke you with it.”

“Yeesh, I get it, I get it. Anyway, pack?”

\-----

Being with Stiles allows his mind to heal up in a way that he couldn’t when he lacked a pack. Peter can think clearly, able to push his more baser instincts down when he needs more rational thought. It’s a work in progress, but he’s getting there.

They spend the next few nights compiling their information about the Hale fire together. The information Stiles has is not up to par to what Peter knows, but Peter is confident that once he points Stiles in the right direction, the two of them will be unstoppable. 

This does lead to conflicts about what to do with the information. Peter wants to take immediate action. His wolf howls for blood. He wants nothing more than to hunt the two remaining arsonist down and rip their throats out. 

(Okay, so he might be getting better, but even he can’t resist the call for blood. Every part of him calls for it, and he only has so much control.)

Maybe even leave their bodies in a spiral for the Argents to find. Let them know he’s still hunting them down.

Of course, Stiles shoots down that idea immediately.

“Right. Announce to the world that the werewolf they’re looking for is still at large. You might as well leave a trail straight to your door.” Stiles deadpans. 

“I refuse to leave those two unpunished! They need to suffer for what they did.” Peter snarls, eyes glowing red. He doesn’t understand why Stiles is trying to stop him from getting revenge. Stiles raises his hands up in defense.

“Hey, I’m not saying they don’t. I’m just saying they’ll be more useful to us alive for now. We can use them to get to the Argents. And wouldn’t dragging the Argent name through the mud be better than having the world think they were victims of an animal attack?”

Peter carefully tries to think this through. It’s difficult though, his mind is so heavy filled with rage and the need to kill. Especially after a another night of unwilling transformation. He closes his eyes and breathes deeply for a few moments. He focuses on the thought of pack to help clear his mind. 

“And how, pray tell, would two criminals help with that?”

Stiles rolls his eyes, like the answer should be obvious.

“Well for one thing, they can ID her. They can go to the police, admit to the fire and blame it all on Kate. If this ever goes to court, they can testify against her. Throw her under the bus if it means a better sentence for them.”

“Right. Because two criminals are just going to match up to the police station and confess to a crime that they’re pretty sure they got away with since it occurred six years ago.” Peter doesn’t roll his eyes, but he does lift an eyebrow up in disbelief.

“They don’t have to be willing. I mean, you are a big, scary Alpha werewolf. If the fear of death by your hands doesn’t send them running, well, then we have bigger issues. Although, I guess if we really wanted to, we could kill them and just figure out a way to pin the murder on Kate somehow. We just got to make sure they die when she doesn’t have an alibi and find someway to definitely pin it on her.”

Peter’s other eyebrow does go up at this. He wonders if he’s misunderstanding Stiles again.

“Wait, let me get this straight: you haven’t been protesting me killing these people. You’ve just been protesting my methods.”

“Well, yes,” Stiles frowns at him, tilting his head slightly in confusion. “I mean, like, I told you I’m not going to begrudge you for wanting to do this. I’m just going to point out when you’re acting like a stupid Disney villain. Like right now. Which is why I’m tell you no for your stupid idea. Especially if it might result in you getting injured, or worse.”

Peter’s pointed look morphs into an amused one. The rage that coursed through him just moments ago seems to simmer down. Knowing that Stiles is merely looking out for him, and not trying to stop him, gives him a warm feeling in his stomach. 

“Then, I apologies. I suppose I’m too used to having my ideas rejected because of a ‘lack of morals’ that I’ve became too fixate on the idea of always believing I know best. I’ll be sure to hear you out next time.”

The words come out easily. It helps that he means every word. Peter should feel embarrassed at how he’s thinking more with his muscles than his brain. After years of being the cunning one in the family, all it takes is him actually becoming an alpha to forget how to use his mind.. 

Stiles turns bright red. He has to look away, sheepishly rubbing the back of his head. Peter can tell that Stiles is quite happy that his words are being taken seriously.

“Yeah, well, don’t worry about it. It’s not the big of a deal. Just got to make sure you don’t get hurt or something.”

Peter frowns. “Nonsense. You’re right. If we don’t properly think this through, this could end very disasterous. As much as I want to avenge my family, that doesn’t mean it should be done recklessly.”

Stiles grins at him. It almost makes Peter wonder what devilish thoughts are running through the teen’s mind.

“Alright, now that we both know I’m not trying to undermine your big Alpha leadership, let’s actually figure out what to do with these two.”

\-----

They eventually leave the two arsonist alone for now. Stiles would keep an eye out for them, to make sure they don’t try to leave town or anything. Otherwise, the two focus their attention on the Argents. 

Ever since school started, Kate, and sometimes even Chris Argent, can be seen nearby school property. Normally, this wouldn’t seem suspicious since Allison does occasionally get picked up by them. However, Stiles has taken notice of at least one of them being there when he knows Allison left with Lydia. That doesn’t even include the times when Stiles detects Kate during lacrosse practice. 

Peter becomes concerned over the fact that Kate seems to be hanging around the school. The scenario sounds awfully familiar to him, but he can’t seem to figure out why.

He wonders whether the other Argents had a hand at all. He certainly doesn’t mind wiping the entire family out, if only so that Kate will understand loss the way he does. 

Once again, Stiles has to act as his voice of reason. Peter mainly suspects that Stiles doesn’t want to him doing so because Scott is apparently dating the youngest Argent. Something about how the beta werewolf will attack him for it and Stiles rather they not fight. Plus, an entire family murdered might draw a lot of attention to Beacon Hills and Stiles would very much prefer to avoid that.

Stiles offers to figure out if the other Argents were involved or if it was just Kate. Neither of them believe for a moment that Kate didn’t have others helping her out. Besides the two arsonist, there had to have been at least one more person involved.

He doesn’t like how he has to leave all the Argents to Stiles. However, not being a werewolf means that the Argents can’t use their normal means of keeping Stiles away nor would they be able to easily get away with attacking him. Peter will just have to trust Stiles when he says that he’ll be careful. 

Plus, this leaves Peter open to track down who ever else that could have had a hand in the fire. The fire burned much too quickly for a normal fire. Peter can think of a number of ways this could have happened. He’s already set to follow the trails of a number of people. 

Having something to do on the nights Stiles can’t swing by prevents him from running off to check on the teen. Peter knows that Stiles is starting to run himself ragged. Peter doesn’t like it, but he’s too selfish to let the teen stay away for too long. Stiles almost always leaves carrying his scent. 

However, the least he can do is to give Stiles some nights when they don’t have to worry about their plans for revenge and the Argents. It leads to a few nights of catching up on the pop culture he’s missed out.

It’s quite strange. Those nights leave him more well rested than sleeping most of the day away. His favorite are the nights when he gets to read whatever book Stiles brings him while said teen just sleeps. Sure, the bed is cramped with the two of them, and Peter can still smell the underlying scent of the hospital beneath Stiles’s scent. But Stiles doesn’t mind his touch, almost seems to welcome it, like a natural werewolf. 

With Stiles’s behavior and how the room is always the same fluorescent yellow, it’s easy to pretend nothing is wrong with the world. It almost feels like a lazy afternoon with pack. 

On those nights, a part of him worries that he’s not doing enough to avenge his family. That he’s not doing enough to settle the spirits of his pack. But then Stiles will somehow detect his thoughts and remind him that his family would want him to live. In that moment, Peter is reminded that he’s not the only one who has lost family. 

Stiles might not understand the sheer magnitude nor the nightmare of being trapped in his own mind, but he can connect with Peter. Loss is loss and there is no contest when it comes to grief. 

Peter honestly can not possibly imagine the state he would be in without Stiles. Stiles is correct in that if Peter were to go at this without Stiles constantly reminding him not to act like a melodramatic villain, he might not end up alive at the end of this. However, with Stiles at his side, Peter knows they can be unstoppable. 

Stiles might not be a werewolf, but he certainly has his own bite. That doesn’t stop Peter from wondering what Stiles would be like as a werewolf.

\-----

“Do you want the bite?”

It didn’t take much for Peter to find out that Scott had basically abandoned Stiles and it makes Peter want to tear the throat out of the beta for hurting Stiles. Stiles’s scent had turned so bitter with betrayal for just a moment before the teen reigned in his emotions. 

Knowing Scott had done so due to his new supernatural status makes Peter want take it back and give it to insteads Stiles. And how could he not offer the gift to such a wonderful person? For someone who has only discovered werewolves were real less than a month ago, the teen has a better understanding of their nature than some born wolves.

Stiles is taken aback with that question. Peter can smell his confusion and for moment, worries that Stiles will say no.

“That came out of nowhere. Er, why? What brought it up?”

Peter could tell that Stiles is more curious than anything else. He carefully grabs the teen’s wrist and brings it close to his face.

“I may have given Scott the bite, but you are the one I want in my pack. If the bite takes, and it could kill you if it doesn’t, you’ll be stronger, quicker. You’ll be as powerful as he is, if not better.”

His fangs are out, ready to bite once Stiles gives him permission. 

“That’s an awful sales pitch. I thought I was good enough as I am now? Aren’t I pack already without the bite?”

Peter doesn’t understand, but he thinks Stiles scent turns just a bit hurt. He quickly adds more, ensuring that Stiles won't misunderstand.

"You are pack. The bite will just ensure that you get all the benefits that come being in one. The cases where a human needs an anchor are so rare and the situation so dire, I would do everything in my power to ensure that never happens to you. I'm not forcing the bite on you, Stiles."

The hurt in Stiles scent disappears, but if Stiles wants a proper sales pitch, he'll give it to him.

"Everything that Scott has, popularity, hot girlfriend, you can have as well. No more being sidekicked. No one would dare overlook you."

Peter's heart gives a slight twinge at the idea of others taking notice of the amazing teen before him. He briefly questions it but chalks it up as due to their pack bond. Stiles is still his only pack member and it is probably causing him to feel possessive.

Peter is knocked out of his thoughts upon hearing Stiles laugh. He asks what's so funny.

"I might be upset at Scott but that doesn't mean I want his popularity. I'm actually quite fond of being ignored and being left alone."

Stiles must sees the confusion on his face because he continues.

"You were one of the popular kids in high school, weren't you? Of course you were. I know it might be difficult to hear, but not every teenager wants to be top dog. I’m very happy where I am on the social ladder. Sure, I’ll never date the popular girl or make it to first line in lacrosse, but I’m okay with that.”

Stiles sighs in frustration though. The last part of that wasn’t completely true and they could both tell.

“Maybe not 100% okay, but you can’t blame a guy for wanting. Okay, I get lonely sometimes too, but that doesn’t mean I need everyone to be my friend. I just want to have one person I can trust to be there for me, you know?”

There is no jump in his heartbeat upon saying those words. But his expression is so closed off, Peter just wants to gather the rest of the teen into his arms, to comfort him from whatever thoughts torment him. He doesn’t because he has more control over himself than that. Peter pulls his face away from the teen’s wrist, but doesn’t let go.

“Do you still want it though?”

Stiles sighs and starts pulling his hand close to himself, prompting Peter to release it. However, Stiles merely grabs his hand in return and brings it up to his face, covering his right eye. Peter almost gets a flash of red and the scent of blood before it disappears. He partially wonders if he actually sensed it or if his mind is still playing tricks on him.

“I think,” Stiles starts off slowly. “If we’re going to take on the Argents, you’ll get more use out of me with the way I am now. I mean, how else are you going to deal with wolfsbane and whatever anti-werewolf bullshit they have?”

Stiles looks so small before him and the overwhelming need to protect him washes over him. He lowers his hand so he’s cupping Stiles’s jaw. Red eyes peer into whiskey colored ones.

“Alright. But if you ever change your mind, don’t hesitate to ask. And,” he emphasizes. “You will be a part of my pack no matter what you decide. I won’t let you go now that I have you.”

Stiles gives him the brightest smile he’s seen on the teen and Peter is elevated to know he’s made his packmate feel better. He gathers the teen into his arms, sniffing at his neck. It’s easy to simply relishes in the company of his pack.

In the end, bite or no bite, Stiles is more than enough to be in his pack.

\-----

Their investigation is still slow going. Peter suspects the chemist Adrian Harris to have given Kate the knowledge she need to quickly burn the house down, but he doesn’t have much evidence. It doesn’t help that Stiles is all for going after that guy just because he’s an ass. 

It’s interesting to have their roles reversed, where Peter has to be the one to convince Stiles that they shouldn’t do anything unless they can prove the man is guilty. Peter half wonders if Stiles is only doing it to prove a point. If Stiles wasn’t there, Peter would have definitely just gone straight to the man to see if he reacted to the burned wounds. Then again, Stiles really doesn’t like Harris so it could have just been that. 

Peter wishes he had killed the bus driver at his house. That way, he could have tried to steal more information about the house fire and what investigators found. The dead man may have rejected the insurance claim, but that doesn’t mean an investigation wasn’t done. 

Although, Peter isn’t sure what he would have found. There might not have been any evidence that the man lied, nor would he necessarily have kept the original reports. It’s frustrating to think about how close they are, yet the information is just slightly out of reach.

When Peter mentions that possible source of information, Stiles brings up sharing their information with the Sheriff. The bus driver died with no living relatives so the state currently had the man’s possessions in storage. If the man kept any information about the Hale fire, the Sheriff could go searching for it.

Plus, getting the local authorities to take over investigating would leave them more time to figure out what to do about the hunters. Peter has major doubts about it. Mainly, he doubts the anything would get pinned on the hunters, especially Kate. They’ve been covering their tracks for so long.

Stiles is fairly optimistic about what his dad is capable of doing. He’s certain that once the Sheriff finds solid evidence that the fire wasn’t an accident, it won’t be long before there is enough evidence to at least put Kate Argent as the mastermind behind the fire. 

\-----

“Your dad will just take the word of a child and gather the necessary information to put Kate in jail?”

“Well, no, but that’s why we’ve been gathering proof. He might not believe what I tell him, but he can’t deny evidence even if I’m the one initially presenting it to him. Then he can find the rest and cased closed.”

Peter raises his eyebrows at the teen, not quite believing his words. Stiles huffs, puffing his cheeks out. Peter thinks it made him look like a hamster with stuffed cheeks. 

“He really just needs enough evidence to press charges against her. From there, the court system. And honestly, that process takes so long, it’ll give us a few years. Plus, she’ll bit sitting in a dinky little cell, rotting away while you get to enjoy freedom.”

“That seems a little tame for my taste.”

“Well, I had other ideas too, but I haven’t put too much thought into them. Thought you might enjoy planning out her suffering more than I would.”

“How have you come to understand me so well?”

\-----

Before Peter realises it, the full moon is upon them again. The three weeks since Stiles starting seeing him seems to have gone by in a blur. This would be the first full moon since becoming the Alpha.

A part of him is nervous. His nurse has kept him drugged up for years during the full moon. Even though the drugs don’t last more than a few hours now, he still cautious of what can happen on the full moon. A normal werewolf’s control is tested those nights, and being an Alpha makes no difference. 

He can tell Stiles wants to argue with him about leaving the nurse alone. Instead, the teen surprises him by instead arguing with him about spending the night. Peter doesn’t even manage to get a word out before Stiles steamrolls him with reasons why he has to be there. Peter is so overwhelmed by it, he doesn’t even muster up the willpower to argue. 

Peter doesn’t remember the night of the full moon at all though. He gets flashes of emotions and remembers lots of running. That doesn’t stop him from worrying about what happened. His wolf feels so content, and Peter is almost convinced that the full moon was like every other night he’s lost control.

Except his aching muscles tell a different story. He ran last night, and quite a bit if he can actually feel it. It’s almost like he ran through the Preserve all night. 

Then he catches the faint scene of iron and Stiles on his hands and he almost hyperventilates. His mind races a mile a second. He wonders if he may have accidently hurt the teen. But the pack bond is still there, thrumming at the back of his mind. 

It doesn’t actually sooth his nerves as he worries about what he could have possible done. He still worries that he may have mauled Stiles. He keeps his senses wide open, trying to see if maybe Stiles is injured enough to warrant a hospital visit for himself. 

That doesn’t actually happen, but Peter remains on high alert throughout the day, overcome with panic. It’s not until Stiles strolls through into the room with four double-double In-N-Out burgers and two animal style fries does Peter calm down. 

Peter doesn’t even touch the food until he plows into the teen, surrounding himself in Stiles’s scent. The teen smells of sore muscles and trees with just a hint of iron. But he’s not injured nor does he smell like a newly bitten werewolf so Peter knows he didn’t lose all sense of self last night. His wolf growls at him, like it couldn’t believe that Peter would ever think they would attack packmate so recklessly. It also feels smug, like it knows something Peter doesn’t. 

Stiles, for his part, doesn’t even react to being in Peter’s arms, with Peter’s nose buried in the teen’s neck. Stiles’s only reaction to that is to tilt his neck, allowing Peter more access. After a moment, he does squirm around, trying to get more comfortable on the small hospital bed. It doesn’t really work, so Stiles is half off the bed. 

They stay like this for a few minutes, until Peter feels comfortable letting go. When Stiles gently brings up the argument that the nurse needs to go, Peter can’t even muster the energy to disagree. He doesn’t want to spend another night where he worries about losing control.

He can’t bring himself to care about the potential consequences if the nurse disappears. Although Stiles seems to be getting rid of the nurse through the proper channels, that doesn’t mean other hunters might not simply discard the fact that Peter’s a hospital patient and still come after him. Regardless of what the future might bring, Peter will make sure he keeps his pack safe this time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No ghoul fact for this chapter since this was entirely from Peter's head, and clearly, he still has a lot to learn about his packmate. I'm not 100% convinced on this chapter, but my inner muse kept poking at me, saying I need to post this here already. I may want to revise it in the future, and maybe even post it separately. For now, I hope you enjoyed this huge chapter because future chapters will be closer to 3-6k each. 
> 
> On the downside, I finally got a job so that means a significant decrease in the amount of time I get to spend writing. But don't worry, I'm not giving up on this. Expect an update by the end of the month.


End file.
